Where to Eat with Only One Day in Florence

Whether you’re doing a day trip from Rome to Florence or spending a whole week in Tuscany, filling your time with delicious food in Florence is a must. Here’s all my favorite spots that I went to, which you can visit all in one day in Florence!

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One Day in Florence: Where to Have Breakfast

Mercato Centrale

First stop for a late breakfast is at the Mercato Centrale, which opens at 10AM. It’s also a great place to stop by in general if you only have one day in Florence.

On the first floor, you’ll find meats, cheese, veggies, and everything you’ll want to pig out, but continue onto the second to find a plethora of restaurants to have breakfast.

Keep breakfast light since you’ll be stuffing yourself at lunch and dinner. Get a cappuccino and brioche because the brioches in Florence are banging. They’re sweet, light, super flaky, and crispy.

After breakfast, peruse the rest of the market on the first floor, and shop at San Lorenzo market next door for cheap, quality leather goods.

Helpful Sites: Mercato Centrale, Yelp

Location:  Piazza del Mercato Centrale 4, 50100 Florence, Italy

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Coming here from Pisa? Learn how to get from Pisa to Florence here.

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One Day in Florence: Where to Have Lunch

Trattoria Mario

The one and only reason to go to Trattoria Mario is to try the local, traditional dish, the Bistecca Florentine (Florentine steak). It’s juicy and tasty, cooked at medium rare perfection, and is plenty of food for two people.

Pair this with a salad and a couple of glasses of wine at only 40 cents each, you’ll be fueled for your adventures around the city until dinner time.

Pro Tip: Mike and I also got the ravioli, but if I went back, I would only get the steak and the salad!

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By the way, this trattoria has a really cute origin story! Mario, along with his parents, opened this restaurant in 1953 but didn’t start serving hot food until Mario married his wife, Elena. Once Elena came in the picture, it became a proper trattoria.What would this world be like without wives? There’d be less tasty & juice steaks!

Helpful Sites: Trattoria Mario, Yelp

Location: Via Rosina, 2r, 50123 Firenze, Italy

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One Day in Florence: Where to Have Dinner

Golden View Open Bar

This place was a recommendation from Mike’s cousin who studied abroad in Florence. I loved it for its view, music, and of course, food.

Golden View Open Bar is situated on the river with a view of le Ponte Vecchio so make sure to reserve a table by the window. Le Ponte Vecchio in general is something you’ll want to visit if you’re wondering what to do in one day in Florence. Might as well kill two birds with one stone by viewing it during dinner!

My two favorite dishes were the pasta with zucchini and the Golden View fish dish, which were both fresh, tasty, and so well prepared. I’d go for any pasta dish here really. Avoid the caprese salad and the fresh fish sampler appetizer, which was like bland sushi.

Out of all the tiramisus I’ve had in Italy, this was by far my favorite. It is made traditionally so none of that sponge cake crap you get in the states. 

The musicians are fantastic! We were the last ones there just so we could hear their whole set.

Disclaimer: I will have to say for you SUPER DUPER foodies out there– the food is great, but not my-mouth-is-about-to-explode-what-am-I-eating amazing, which is kind of what I expect every time I go out to eat. You are paying for the view and the ambiance too, which includes some very talented musician to serenade you, all night long. The music and view is worth the food in itself.

If you are not a super foodie, the food is very, very good, and the service is top notch. You won’t be disappointed either way. I am just being a very hard critic.

Helpful Sites: Golden View, Yelp

Location: Via de Bardi, 58/r, 50125 Firenze, Italy

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One Day in Florence: Food Tour or Cooking Class to Try it All

If you feel like you want to eat more than just the local brioche, steak and pasta and you really want to experience more local flavors, then I wholly encourage you to try a food tour! A food tour in Florence is one of the best ways to taste as much as you can with only one day in Florence.

For snacking, there’s this awesome truffles, gelato, chocolate, olive oil, and wine food tour in Florence, but if you really want to bring back the taste of Tuscany home long after your trip, a market to cooking class would be really fun and helpful.

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Hope this one day foodie’s guide helps you find delicious place to eat in Florence if you only have one day there.

Spending two days here? Check out this post about 2 days in Florence!

Thanks for stopping by! xo.